


The Battle of Zaama

by Ninebubble



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Ancient world, Angst, But it's in the notes, Character Death, Kingdoms, M/M, Past Relationship(s), So it's not that bad, War, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:34:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25932943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninebubble/pseuds/Ninebubble
Summary: On the eve of battle, Jongdae is summoned to a secret meeting with rival general Minseok, whom he loved long ago.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 33
Kudos: 39
Collections: Challenge #6 — Rise of Kingdoms





	The Battle of Zaama

*

The tent's awning rustled, letting the desert light flood in. Jongdae heard his advisor enter and stop, waiting respectfully for him to speak.

The General remained at his desk, where he was composing messages to be sent out tomorrow evening. One set of letters if they won the battle ; another set if they lost, a set that included his will and the name of his successor, were he killed in the fighting. He signed the final letter with a flourish : _Jongdae, Prince & First General of Arcadia_, then he looked up.

"My Lord," said Sehun, "there is a messenger asking to see you."

"Show them in," he replied eagerly. He was waiting for news of the legion he had left a few days behind to protect a mountain pass, and which had been ordered to join them as soon as possible.

But to his surprise, the messenger who followed Sehun into the tent was not wearing the typical mud-brown of his scouts, nor the red and gold of Arcadia, their home. He was wearing leather armour accented with silver, and his cape was a deep Egyptian blue.

"A messenger from the Zaamaian camp," said Sehun, then bowed and exited.

"My Lord." The messenger, a tall and well-built man, bowed as well.

"You are no mere messenger," said Jongdae slowly, his eyes drawn to the insignia on the man's chest, a silver pin shaped like the sun.

"And I come with no mere message. My Lord Minseok wishes to meet with you. Tonight, secretly."

" _Minseok_ ?"

"I don't know what he wishes to discuss, but he was very insistent."

The Prince ran a hand through his sun-bleached hair. "The eve of a battle is a particular time, but I didn't think he would ever grovel before me."

"He will not grovel," answered the messenger shortly. "He cannot grovel. Will you come ?"

After a short silence, Jongdae spoke. "Yes."

The messenger laid a roll of parchment on his desk and left with a final bow. Jongdae reached for the letter, unfurling it and reading :

_Jongdae,_

_It has been too long, but I hope the memory of our time together and all that I taught you will convince you to meet me tonight, two hours after sundown. I have set up a tent, which you will find if you follow the dried-up riverbed into the eastward hills._

_Bring this letter ; it bears my crest and will guarantee you safe passage._

_Yours, still,_

_Minseok._

"Yes," he repeated to the empty tent, "I will come."

*

"You came," said Minseok, eyes shining in the candlelight.

Jongdae stood still at tent's entrance. "You write well. I had forgotten."

"Sit," Minseok smiled and nodded at the chair next to his. As Jongdae moved slowly into the tent, he reached for a pitcher of wine and poured two glasses. "Have you destroyed all the letters I once sent you ?"

"If someone had found them, I would have been accused of treason."

"Treason !" Laughed Minseok, "For a flame, so long ago ! I think you burned them because you didn't wish to be reminded."

"I didn't wish to be torn apart," replied Jongdae. "You were pillaging my people's farms. You were killing them and burning their fields. If I had found your letters I might have let my heart soften, and my Kingdom would have been at your mercy."

"I had no choice. My own people were dying. The fall of the Empire has left us destitute, Jongdae. We are too close to the desert, and the rivers, as you see, are drying up. I had no other choice."

A silence fell over them. Jongdae watched Minseok take a long draught of wine, swallow it and sigh. He studied the face he had once known so well. It had grown older. There were more lines, tracing the worries of a fading kingdom and its last Prince.

But the cat-like eyes had not lost all their mirth, and the mouth still smiled crookedly.

"I have often thought," said Minseok, turning back to Jongdae, "of asking you to run away with me."

"Where would we go ?"

"North, perhaps ? In Borealis there is water a-plenty. We could build a small house and - be together. As we once were."

"We could live in a forest," Jongdae smiled back, letting the daydream wash over him. "There would be a small garden, and I would hunt for us."

"It would be cold in the winter, but we would keep each other warm. I have never known peace like that of sleeping in your arms," added Minseok with a wistfulness that brought Jongdae back to their time in the Academy. They had fallen asleep together every night, blissfully ignorant of all that would come.

"And I -" Jongdae cleared his throat, whispering, "have never forgotten what it's like to hold you."

This caused Minseok to smile sadly. "This war has rid me of many illusions on the nature of things," he replied, "but the one belief I still hold is that I was made to be with you."

Jongdae leaned forward and reached for Minseok's hand. He stopped at the last second, open palm turning to a fist. "My heart is softening again."

"Let it !" Minseok straightened. "We still _could -_ leave all this behind."

"Eight years ago I would have said yes."

"What's so different now ? Kingdoms rise and fall. We are just men."

"Before I was made General, I would have gone to the end of the Earth with you. But we are _not_ just men - we are Princes. What we want doesn't matter anymore. There is only honour, and duty to our people." He rose, Minseok's eyes fixed on him. "You have left me no choice."

He walked to the tent's awning and paused. "Perhaps the gods will be kind and we will both die tomorrow."

Minseok only replied, "Fight well, General."

Jongdae held his gaze a moment longer. Then, with a final parting nod, he disappeared into the night to prepare for battle at the foothills of Zaama.

*

**Author's Note:**

> The next evening finds Jongdae, covered in dust and blood, walking the silent battlefield alone, looking for a familiar face among the fallen, and hoping against hope that he never finds it.  
> He does, though. Just as the sun sets he finds Minseok lying there, a sword with a blue and silver hilt stuck between his ribs. 
> 
> **
> 
> The battle of Zama is an actual historical event, which marks the end of the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome. According to Livy, on the night before the fighting began, the Roman general Scipio met with Hannibal, the Carthaginian general. Both men are overcome with respect for each other, but there are no peace negociations - Hannibal has spent the better part of a decade scouring the Italian countryside and Scipio tells him plainly that he has no choice.  
> As far as I know they weren't actually ex-lovers but I wanted to rewrite it anyway. The kingdoms are fictional and the timeline is closer to the fall of (not)Rome than its rise in the Punic wars.
> 
> Thanks for reading, hope you liked it !


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